Empty Victory
by Hieirulesall
Summary: Yusuke is given a chance to speak with Toguro after the Dark Tournament is over just before the demon is sent to Limbo. In an attempt to put his mind at ease, he questions the man's actions during the tournament. one-shot


AN: This fic is a gift-fic for Sekah in return to the Yusuke and Toguro fic she wrote for my challenge. I hope you like it! In the end it came out a bit shorter than I'd intended, but I think that's because the fic is very heavy in dialougue, much more so than most of my writing, anyway. It's not really the type of story I had originally been planning on writing, so I'm still not sure how I feel about it. As I said, I hope you like it anyways.

Oh, and for anyone who is interested in the challenge, you can find the details in the first chapter of my fic "Second Chances".

((-))

Yusuke stared at the man in front of him, unable to speak. Ten minutes ago his mind had been filled with any number of things that he wanted to shout at the man. There had been so many questions he had wanted to ask and accusations that he felt needed to be made. However, now that he actually saw Toguro face-to-face, he was having a hard time getting the words. It wasn't that he was still afraid of Toguro, though he did still find the man rather intimidating. Part of Yusuke was unsure if he even wanted the answers.

"Well, Yusuke?" the younger Toguro brother urged. He had a confident smirk on his face that should have been out-of-place given their current situation.

"Koenma said that I could talk to you before he sent you to Limbo," the teen said finally, needing to remind himself why he was here.

"Yes, I know. That's why we're here," Toguro responded flatly, gesturing around the room. It was empty, save for the two of them.

"You requested to go to Limbo," Yusuke said, still staring at Toguro in a mix of confusion and a sadness that he could not explain.

"Indeed I did."

"Why?"

Toguro raised his eyebrows, looking rather amused at the Spirit Detective's melancholy. "I would have thought the little Prince would have explained everything to you about my past. What else is there for you to know?"

"I want to know why you requested to go Limbo," Yusuke repeated, though he was beginning to grow annoyed with the attitude that he was being given. "Why is that such a hard question to answer?"

"It's not hard, Yusuke, which is why I thought even you would be able to answer it." After a moment the demon heaved an obviously fake sigh and shook his head, seemingly disappointed with the teen. "Because, I deserve it. What more is there to understand?"

Yusuke shook his head, "But you're not really a bad person…"

"You think so?" Toguro's amusement was no longer veiled and it looked like he might burst out laughing any minute. Of course, such actions might prove to everyone that he was, in fact, insane.

"Well, you are a complete bastard," Yusuke muttered, glaring at the demon in front of him, who was being rather difficult. "But, it's not like you kill everyone and everything you have the chance to."

"Don't I?"

The silence stood between them, like a thick wall that couldn't be penetrated. Finally, Yusuke managed to say what he'd been wondering about since he'd found out the truth. "You didn't kill Kuwabara," the way he said it made it sound almost like a question. It was something that had bothered him since he had had the chance to really think about the events of the fight. Believing that Kuwabara had died had given him the strength to defeat Toguro, but in many ways it had left his victory quite hollow.

"I must have missed," Toguro responded offhandedly, shrugging.

"Liar."

"Does it really matter, Yusuke? I should think you'd be happy. If I had wanted to, I could just as easily have killed him and it would have accomplished the same goal. But I didn't. Why waste such a talented fighter when I could just as easily keep him alive?" Toguro asked with a shrug.

That made sense, however, Yusuke couldn't help but feel that Toguro's answer wasn't the real reason. "Yeah, I guess I can understand that, but I don't think that's why you didn't kill him."

"Need I remind you, Yusuke, that I have no problem with killing the ones you hold dear to push you forward?" Toguro asked.

Clenching his fists tightly, Yusuke wanted nothing more than to pummel the taller man in the ground for that remark. "You are so selfish!" he shouted. "You killed Genkai for you! It wasn't to 'push me forward', it was because you couldn't stand to look at her that way! You wanted me to think Kuwabara was dead so that I would be stronger, but I bet the only reason you didn't actually kill him was because you would have felt guilty. You knew you were going to have me kill you soon and you knew you didn't want another death to add to your damned conscience when you came here…"

"All done?" Toguro asked with amusement, once Yusuke had finally run out of breath.

"Tell me I'm right," Yusuke demanded, ignoring the question.

"You're wrong," Toguro answered, causing Yusuke to grit his teeth in annoyance. "You'll never understand why I made the decisions I made."

"I would if you would just tell me!"

"I have no reason to explain myself to a child."

"Hey, I'm not a child! I beat you!" Yusuke yelped, pointing a finger accusingly at the man.

"Congratulations," Toguro said flatly.

Letting out a growl of frustration, Yusuke nearly stormed out of the room and gave up. He wouldn't do that, though. Toguro could not leave him here without explaining himself. Yusuke did not want Koenma's explanation for why Toguro did what he did. He didn't want to draw his own conclusions and simply hope that they were right. He wanted confirmation from the man himself.

"You owe me an explanation," the Spirit Detective said quietly, trying a different tactic. "After everything you put me and my friends through, you owe me. You needed someone to kill you and I did. I did what you wanted. The least you could tell me is why I had to do that."

"Very well. You killed me because you thought I'd killed your best friend and knew I'd kill the others if necessary," Toguro responded. The smirk that followed the remark was only half-formed when the demon was forced to block the punch Yusuke threw at him.

"Stop being such a bastard," Yusuke demanded. Pulling his arm back, he squared himself off in front of the large demon, staring up the distance that separated them.

"No."

"Why?"

"Because," Toguro said, voice now deathly serious, "I don't owe you anything."

A knock at the door startled Yusuke before he had the chance to react. Botan stood there calmly. "It can't wait any longer. Come on Toguro," she said quietly.

"Hey! Wait!" Yusuke shouted. He was ignored.

Toguro said nothing and followed the blue-haired girl out the door. Just before he left, he looked back over his shoulder at the dumb-founded Yusuke and nodded his farewell.

Cursing, the Spirit Detective kicked at the ground. He wished that he had simply strangled Toguro or had continued to punch him. That would have at least made him feel better. Instead, he was left with even more questions than he'd had before.

When he'd discovered that Toguro had actually intended for Yusuke to kill him all along, the teen had felt empty. It was as if it had all been for nothing. He'd felt as if he'd been dragged around by the throat all for nothing and it could have all been avoided. Toguro had been in control right up till the very end. Yusuke had hoped that by talking to the man when they were no longer fighting and Toguro didn't have anything to hide, he'd get some answers to make him feel better about the situation. Toguro would explain himself and Yusuke wouldn't have to feel so empty any more.

Instead, he felt worse than ever.


End file.
